Are Soundbars Worth It?

If you've bought a TV in the past few years, more than likely you've seen (or been offered) a soundbar.

These thin speakers sit in front or below a TV, and promise higher fidelity audio than is possible with just the TV’s speakers.

But do they? Are they worth the money?

The What?

Just so we're on the same page, a soundbar, also called a speakerbar, is a wide, typically thin and short (vertically) speaker with multiple drivers. They range in price from under $100 to over a $2,000. They connect to your TV (or cable box), and claim to improve the sound.

But don’t TVs sound OK?

Well, no, they don’t. As TVs have gotten thinner, there’s less and less space to fit the speaker drivers. With such limited real estate, the drivers are often tiny and weak. Worse, on most TVs the speakers either point down or away from you, further reducing sound quality.

What do I mean by sound quality? Well, because the speakers are small, they’re not capable of reproducing deep, low, bass sounds. Because they’re not facing at you, they’re less able to accurately create high-pitched treble sounds. So most TV sound is simultaneously muffled, and tinny. Not a good combination.

Many of you are probably thinking, “but my TV doesn't sound that bad.” Maybe not, but have you ever had to rewind a TV show or movie to hear something someone said? One of the most common issues with TV sound is not being able to hear the dialog. I get emails about this all the time, enough so that I wrote an article over at CNET about it. Poor sound quality doesn't just mean it’s not “hi-fi,” it can be something as simple as being unintelligible.

And don't you want better, more "movie theater-like" sound? Maybe not all the time, but what about for family movie nights? Most new TVs can stream music (either from Pandora or from a smartphone). Having a decent speaker for music playback is awesome.

The Good

At the very least, soundbars point their drivers towards you. That’s a big step up over TV audio. Most decent soundbars also have separate tweeters and woofers, which handle the high and low sounds respectively.

There are two main types of soundbars: active and passive. Active soundbars have built-in amplifiers. So all you need to do is plug in your TV (or cable box/Blu-ray player/web streamer, whatever), and you’ll get sound. Some of these models even feature advanced surround processing that can create a faux-surround sound from the one soundbar.

Pioneer SP-SB23W

Passive soundbars are more like traditional speakers. They require a separate receiver, which itself can cost $250 and up, but acts as a central hub for your entire audio/video system.

Price wise, there are expensive an inexpensive versions of both passive and active soundbars. There are good and bad ones of each, too.

Almost every soundbar comes with a subwoofer, usually wireless. This box sits somewhere in the room (either near the TV, in a corner, under a table, wherever), and creates the really low sounds (the deep rumble like you get in a movie theater).

The Bad

There are two main downsides to soundbars.

The first is size. Generally they’re not tall or deep, but they are wide, about the width of your TV. For most people, it’s not an issue to place the soundbar in front of their TV. Depending on how you have your TV set up, placement might be an issue.

Most soundbars can be wall mounted (above or below the TV), if that’s required. So if you have the space for them, then this isn’t an issue, but they do require some space. There are a few models, like those from Zvox, that act as small pedestals: you put the TV on top of them.

The second downside is, ironically, sound quality. Though some soundbars sound very good, and pretty much all sound better than every TV, they don’t sound as good as most real speakers (even small "bookshelf" models). This is because there are too many concessions for size to allow for the kind of fidelity possible with separate speakers. CNET’s Audiophiliac Steve Guttenberg describes why in his great article Before you buy a sound bar speaker, read this.

Some TVs have audio processing designed to help their mediocre sound quality. They’ll have features that boost the frequencies where most voices are.

This certainly helps intelligibility, but this doesn't mean the TVs actually sound good. It just makes the dialog a little easier to understand.

So... yes. Yes they are.

Soundbars are definitely worth it. They'll give you better sound than is possible with your TV. In some cases, they offer excellent fidelity for movies and music. There are great options for every budget. I recommend checking out TheWirecutter for a place to start your research. They have an inexpensive pick and a high-end pick, with a few thousand words explaining why they chose each.

Geoff Morrison is a tech and travel writer/photographer based (occasionally) in LA. For most of the year he's a digital nomad, working while travelling around the world. In addition to Forbes, he writes about all aspects of technology and travel for CNET, the New York T...